Brilliant humor and an interesting world won't save Mario's latest RPG offering. Even though the stickers add a lot of variety to the turn based battles, an RPG without any character development tends to turn repetitive eventually. Unfortunately for Mario such is the case with Sticker Star. [Feb 2013]

Unfortunately for it, Paper Mario: Sticker Star has to deal with being a “pretty good” entry in a series that is usually considered amongst the best games on their respective consoles. While I did have fun with it, there were times when I felt like I was just going through the motions, and very little of the innovation or character of previous entries shone through.

Paper Mario: Sticker Star does have some flaws, but the good does mostly out-weight the bad. The puzzles can be challenging, as well as the boss fights, but the normal battles as mostly there to suck up your stickers.

Fans of the series may want to pick this up to get another taste of what used to be an amazing franchise, but be forewarned that it's not what you're hoping it to be and that you should probably steer clear.

Paper Mario: Sticker Star's pop-up book, papercraft visuals retain the series' classic charm and allows the developers to play around with the construction and development of their game world. While using stickers in combat and puzzle solving is a neat idea, players will usually end up hoarding their stickers for fear of needing them later on. This makes overall gameplay feel a bit slow and uninspired, but Sticker Star is a fun game to play regardless.

Paper Mario: Sticker Star is clever and fully committed to its paperized setting. That's not enough to excuse its biggest flaws. You'll spend time backtracking and getting stuck on puzzles that require too much guesswork.

Paper Mario's first outing on a handheld device is pretty charming, but the paper is starting to tear. The lack of RPG-elements make the fights feel pointless and some strange decisions lead to frustrating moments. Despite all the stickers, his game doesn't stick.

Small problems notwithstanding, Paper Mario: Sticker Star is easy to recommend to any 3DS-User. Just crank up the excellently utilized and in no way distracting 3D and don't expect the role-playing experience earlier games in the series offered and you get a refreshing take on the familiar formula.

Paper Mario Sticker Star is a pleasant surprise with its great visuals and its great sense of humor that players will certainly enjoy. Thanks to improved environment interactions, introduced by the use of stickers, the game is fun to play despite some RPG and platform elements not so interesting. Too easy, Paper Mario Sticker Star lacks a good enough story to be fully entertaining.

Paper Mario: Sticker Star is a worthy successor in the Paper Mario-series that will probably satisfy both veterans and newbies. Most of us will unmercifully get stuck within a puzzle or a dead end, but do know that there's no shame in looking for answers on the Internet.

The presentation is cute beyond believe, the music is great, the fighting system is as simple as varied – it sure sounds like a winner. But at its core there are too many weaknesses on display, most notably the absence of RPG elements, which makes the fights too monotonous in the long run.

Paper Mario debuts in Nintendo 3DS with a very original game, which changes its traditional gameplay adding stickers to the RPG system. The result is a game as funny and humorous as in past titles, but more innovative.

It's far from a bad adventure, but it's also not as cozy or cohesive as the previous Paper Mario games, or the sublime Mario & Luigi series of RPGs. There's plenty to enjoy, but Mario has done better as an RPG hero before.

In developing its first Paper Mario games, Intelligent Systems could include all predicates of the previous games and even refined some aspects, particularly the turn-based combat, facilitated by the 3DS touchscreen.

Super Paper Mario on the Wii showed that Nintendo is unafraid of experimenting with the franchise, and although Paper Mario: Sticker Star has a few minor missteps and a few missed opportunities (where is the sticker collection StreetPass mini-game?) it is still an adventure of considerable charm and intelligence and is hugely entertaining throughout. It also does more than most to vindicate the 3DS's now much maligned 3D screen, proving that – if used correctly– it still has the ability to wow. Its hero may be flat, but Paper Mario: Sticker Star will leave you feeling anything but.

Sticker Star is not exactly what many expected. It's not a return to the origins in full rule, in that the RPG elements are sacrificed, but not even a real distortion. The substance is that of a Paper Mario, however, it has a setting that some may not accept, and some of the limitations in the structure. But if you will understand the nature, you will see exciting ideas in Paper Mario: Sticker Star, you will realize that, behind an experience sometimes fragmentary, it hides one of the best adventures of this year.

While many expected recycling, Intelligent Systems has yet managed to get all his imagination to create the first Paper Mario on a handheld console. Sticker Star is a fabulous ambassador for stereoscopic 3D, as its paper universe is the ideal material to illustrate the aesthetic qualities of this technology. The scenario and fights are excellent too.

The lack of many RPG features might be somehow confusing, but it's fun and addictive. On the top of that, it makes us think, so we really recommend it for those looking for something different to play on the 3DS.

Much of what made Paper Mario charming in the first place still remains with Sticker Star. However, this 3DS game can be pretty tedious to play. The sticker system is a fresh and interesting idea, but ultimately, too many problems bog the game down and what's left is a lacklustre installment.

Ah, Paper Mario. It reminds me of my first time getting a Nintendo 64. Now, if you were looking forward to a Paper Mario game that containedAh, Paper Mario. It reminds me of my first time getting a Nintendo 64. Now, if you were looking forward to a Paper Mario game that contained aspects from the original Paper Mario, then you're going to be disappointed. I was a little upset that this wasn't the original Paper Mario, but that doesn't have to be a bad thing. I thoroughly enjoyed Super Paper Mario, because it was well made. Sticker Star works in an original aspect that no other Paper Mario game has done. This game lets you attack by getting "stickers" which you may use as attacks. How do you get stickers? You can buy them, find them, and get them as rewards. While the idea itself sounded stupid to me when I first heard it, I realized that this game actually makes up for it on how fun it is. It almost feels like playing Paper Mario all over again. The sound in the game is great, and it fits the theme of the game pretty well in my opinion. If you enjoy jazz and relaxing music when you're going through some zones, then you are definitely going to enjoy all of the music in this game.

The story in this game is pretty good. It's nothing spectacular, but it IS a Mario game, and they tend to just have an okay story behind it. It's pretty much about Bowser stealing the Royal Sticker from the princess, making it so everyone and everything is made out of stickers. It'll catch on, I promise.

The battles were surprisingly fun. I enjoy almost every moment of the battles. There's a big variety of stickers you can collect and a ton of fun enemies to fight. The battles are turn based, just like the old Paper Mario games, but you get to use stickers to fight. The only gripe that I have with this game is that they took out a lot of fun systems that the previous Paper Mario games contained. I was disappointed to find out that you never get any partners nor badges. They were completely wiped from this game. So if you were looking forward to those, then sadly, you're out of luck. But this game makes it up in it's originality and just basically how fun it was. I was keeping my standards a bit low after hearing this idea. Clearly, I have been blown away by how much fun this game is.

I definitely would recommend at least trying this game. I'd even pay $60 if that was the release price. You can buy it from select retailers or from the Nintendo E-Shop for $40.…Full Review »

Paper Mario 64 and Paper Mario The Thousandth Year Door will always be classics games, as they have expanded the mario universe by settingPaper Mario 64 and Paper Mario The Thousandth Year Door will always be classics games, as they have expanded the mario universe by setting grand, deep adventures revolving around interactions with its inhabitants. Super Paper Mario is more so a completely different game than a direct sequel to these two games. Despite being a sequel nominally, Super Paper Mario features a completely different gameplay style, with nearly as much depth as its prequels. However, Super Paper Mario fell short of matching the greatness of the first two Paper Mario games. Then there's Sticker Star. Sticker Star began in development as a conventional Paper Mario game in the style of the first two games, but Miyamoto insisted that the game be playable as a handheld. Although change is often good for sequels, for Paper Mario, this may not be the case. Sticker Star lacks depth of any sort. The story is.....big surprise: Bowser kidnaps peach..... and that's all there is to it. There are few interesting side characters, no party members, and little dialogue. These factors are what made the first three Paper Mario games so memorable. Rather than having story based gameplay with the inclusion of puzzles, Sticker Star consists solely of puzzles revolving around the newfound ability to "stickerize". This does make for some creative puzzles, but these puzzles alone do not justify this game being called a Paper Mario game. I am tempted to rate this game lower, because I am stubborn and disappointed that this game lacks the depth of the prequels, but I must admit that this game does succeed on some levels. The sticker battle system forces you to allocate your stickers appropriately. However, this is the only strategy involved in the whole game, and it is rather thin strategy. You will surely lose to a boss if you do not, by sheer chance, guess its weakness. There are over 60 possible "thing" stickers to choose from, and certain bosses can only be defeated with a particular one, and it is hard to guess which one it is, until you die several times and the game gives you a hint. To wrap this review up I'll conclude by summarizing the games pros and cons. A pro are that it once again attempts to keep the Paper Mario formula fresh by changing up the gameplay. A con is that is also gets rid of the characters, story, and atmosphere that made the other three entries in the series so great. Another pro is that, once you get used to the sticker system, collecting, and puzzles, the game is often pretty fun at times. A con however, is that the battle system is flawed, especially for boss battles, and there is little depth to anything in the game. However, this game's not all that bad, I just hope that the next Paper Mario game actually has a soul.…Full Review »

It's sad how oblivious and uncaring Nintendo was with this game. This is by far the worst in the series and definitely the worst Mario gameIt's sad how oblivious and uncaring Nintendo was with this game. This is by far the worst in the series and definitely the worst Mario game for 3DS. Almost everything that made the previous installments great and special was removed. The biggest change in this game is the pointless sticker system. If you don't know what it is, Google it because I ain't got the time to explain it. Basically it makes each battle feel like a waste of time. Since their is no leveling in this game, you don't get XP from winning battles, all you get is money, which is used to buy stickers, which are used to battle (you see what I'm getting at here). This is one of the most disappointing games in a long time, save your money and get something else.…Full Review »